In The News This Week
JUDGE OKS $4B BP OIL
SPILL CRIMINAL
SETTLEMENT'
BP PLC closed the book on the Justice
Department's criminal probe of its role in the
Deepwater Horizon disaster and Gulf oil spill.
Page 1

GORE HITS CORPORATE
MEDIA, DEFENDS CURRENT TV SALE
Al Gore, who takes aim in his new book at the
corporate media for "suffocating the free flow
of ideas," on Tuesday defended the sale of his
television channel to Al-Jazeera.
Page 2

JUDGE OKS $4B BP OIL SPILL
CRIMINAL SETTLEMENT
N
E
W
ORLEANS (AP) -BP PLC closed the
book on the Justice
Department's criminal probe of its role in
Deepwater
the
Horizon disaster and
Gulf oil spill Tuesday,
when a federal judge
agreed to let the
London-based oil
giant plead guilty to
manslaughter
charges for the
deaths of 11 rig workers and pay a record
$4 billion in penalties.

watching the disaster
play out on television.
"These men suffered a horrendous
death," he said.
"They were basically
cremated alive and
not at their choice."

BP agreed in
November to plead
guilty to charges
involving the workers'
deaths and for lying
to Congress about
In this April 21, 2010 aerial file photo taken in the Gulf of Mexico more than 50
miles southeast of Venice, La., the Deepwater Horizon oil rig is seen burning. the size of the spill
A U.S. judge on Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, approved an agreement for British oil from its broken well,
giant BP PLC to plead guilty to manslaughter and other charges and pay a which spewed more
What the plea record $4 billion in criminal penalties for the company's role in the 2010 oil dis- than 200 million galaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
deal approved by
lons of oil. Much of it
U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance doesn't resolve, though, ended up in the Gulf and soiled the shorelines of several
is the federal government's civil claims against BP. The states. The company could have withdrawn from the
company could pay billions more for environmental dam- agreement if Vance had rejected it.
age from its 2010 spill.
BP America vice president Luke Keller apologized to
Vance noted that the company already has racked the relatives of the workers who died and for the spill's
up more than $24 billion in spill-related expenses and has environmental damage to the Gulf Coast.
estimated it will pay a total of $42 billion to fully resolve its
liability for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
"BP knows there is nothing we can say to diminish
their loss," he said. "The lives lost and those forever
The judge said the $4 billion criminal settlement is changed will stay with us. We are truly sorry."
"just punishment" for BP, even though the company could
have paid far more without going broke. In accepting the
Most of the families of rig workers who were killed or
deal, Vance also cited the risk that a trial could result in a injured in the explosion already have settled their claims
much lower fine for BP, one potentially capped by law at against BP, through a process separate from this plea
$8.2 million.
deal.
The criminal settlement calls for BP to pay nearly $1.3
billion in fines. The largest previous corporate criminal
penalty assessed by the Justice Department was a $1.2
billion fine against drug maker Pfizer in 2009.

Courtney Kemp-Robertson, whose 27-year-old husband, Roy Wyatt Kemp, of Jonesville, La., died on the rig,
said workers had referred to it as the "well from hell"
before the explosion.

The plea deal also includes payments of nearly $2.4
billion to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and
$350 million to the National Academy of Sciences. The
two groups will administer the money to fund Gulf restoration and oil spill prevention projects.

"By cutting corners, they gambled with the lives of
126 crew members to save a few dollars," she told the
judge before turning to address Keller. "They gambled
and you lost."

The $4 billion in total penalties are 160 times greater
than the $25 million fine that Exxon paid for the 1989
Valdez spill in Alaska, Vance noted.

A series of government investigations have blamed
the April 20, 2010, blowout on time-saving, cost-cutting
decisions by BP and its partners on the drilling project.

JAPAN LAUNCHES 2
INTELLIGENCE
SATELLITES NA

Before she ruled, the judge heard an apology from a
BP executive and emotional testimony from relatives of
the 11 workers who died when BP's blown-out Macondo
well triggered an explosion on the rig and started the spill.

Vance told victims' relatives who were in court that
she read their "truly gut-wrenching" written statements
and factored their words into her decision. She also said
she believes BP executives should have personally apologized to family members long before Tuesday's hearing.

Japan launched two intelligence satellites into
orbit on Sunday amid growing concerns that
North Korea is planning to test more rockets..
Page 8

"I've heard and I truly understand your feelings and
the losses you suffered," Vance told the family members.

BP also has separately agreed to a settlement with
lawyers for Gulf Coast residents and businesses who
claim the spill cost them money. BP estimates the deal
with private attorneys will cost the company roughly $7.8
billion.

DISTANT RURAL AREAS
MAY FEEL CITIES' HEAT
AsHeat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris
and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far
away.
Page 8

"It is petty cash to BP," he told Vance. "Their stock
went up after this plea deal was announced."
Billy Anderson, whose 35-year-old son, Jason, of
Midfield, Texas, died in the blast, recalled the trauma of

In a court filing before the hearing, attorneys for BP
and the Justice Department argued that the plea agree-

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GORE HITS CORPORATE
M E D I A ,
D E F E N D S
C U R R E N T T V S A L E
Corporations have
enlisted politicians and
lobbyists to further
their goals and have
also "recruited a fifth
column in the Fourth
Estate," he said in the
b
o
o
k
.

NASHVILLE,
Tenn. (AP) -- Al Gore,
who takes aim in his
new book at the corporate media for "suffocating the free flow of
ideas," on Tuesday
defended the sale of his
television channel to
A l - J a z e e r a .
The Qatar government-owned news network earlier this month
struck a deal to buy
Current TV, the cable
news network cofounded by the former
vice president. The
price tag was $500 million.

ormer U.S. Vice President Al Gore talks during an interview, Tuesday, Jan.
29, 2013 in New York. Gore, who takes aim in his new book at the corporate
media for "suffocating the free flow of ideas," on Tuesday defended the sale
of his own television channel to Al-Jazeera. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Gore told The Associated Press that he had no reservations about selling the channel to Al-Jazeera, which has won
U.S. journalism prizes but has been criticized by some for an
anti-American bias. The new owner plans to gradually transform Current into a network called Al-Jazeera America.
"They're commercial-free, they're hard-hitting," he said
in a phone interview. "They're very respected and capable,
and their climate coverage has been outstanding, in-depth,
extensive, far more so than any network currently on the air
in the U.S."

Miami, Florida 33130

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The 64-year-old Gore said he considers Current TV,
which was largely outflanked by MSNBC in its effort to be
a liberal alternative to Fox News Channel, to have been a
success.
"We won every major award in television journalism,
and we were profitable each year," said Gore, who has a
home in Nashville. "But it's difficult for an independent network to compete in an age of conglomerate."
In a new 592-page book titled, "The Future: Six Drivers
of Global Change," Gore makes only a fleeting reference to
Al-Jazeera, calling it "the feisty and relatively independent
satellite television channel" that played a key role in bringing about the Arab Spring.
Gore in the book likens the influence of money in the
political process to a "slow-motion corporate coup d'etat that
threatens to destroy the integrity and functioning of
American democracy."
"Corporations are not people," Gore said in the interview. "Might doesn't make right. Money is not speech. And
those who advocate the dominance of American politics by
large corporations, special interests and anonymous donors
are working against the original design by our founders."

www.veteransvoice.org

"The
one-way,
advertising-dominated
conglomerate-controlled television medium has been suffocating the free flow of
ideas necessary for
genuine self-determination," he writes.

The Internet provides a path for breaking the corporate stranglehold on the media, Gore said in the
interview, as it "is less vulnerable to the dominance of special interests, because individual voices play a larger and
more influential role."

Gore, who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his
efforts to raise awareness about climate change, also calls for
a carbon tax, though he acknowledged that passage does not
appear to be imminent.
"Well, I wouldn't go to Vegas and bet on it right now,"
he said. "But neither would I say that it's impossible ... The
day has passed when we can use the earth's atmosphere as an
open sewer."
"Yes it's tough, because we've been relying on these fossil fuels for 150 years. But the cost of solar and wind is coming down rapidly and energy efficiency saves money while it
reduces pollution," he said. "And we need to move in that
direction quickly."
Gore, who represented Tennessee in the U.S. Senate and
House before he was tapped by President Bill Clinton as his
running mate, blames procedural rules in the Senate for
blocking popular measures.
"I fully appreciate the virtues of the filibuster, but it's
gotten so out of control that I do think that it needs to be
dialed back significantly," he said. "It has been abused to the
point where American democracy is paralyzed.
"Nothing can pass the Senate that is opposed by special
interests," he said. "And that's not right."
Gore points out in the introduction of his book that as a
"recovering politician," the chances of his returning to public office become slimmer the more time passes. Gore won
more popular votes than George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential contest, but was defeated in the electoral college after
the Supreme Court stopped a hotly debated recount in

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P E A C E E N V O Y S A Y S S Y R I A
I S
' B E I N G
D E S T R O Y E D '
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The international envoy to
Syria told the Security Council on Tuesday that "Syria is
being destroyed bit by bit" and his mediation effort cannot go forward unless the council unites to push the
Syrian government and opposition forces toward some
compromise.
The Security Council has been divided over Syria for
months, with the United States, Britain, France and other
Western powers backing the armed opposition and pushing for resolutions that raised the threat of sanctions.
Three times, Russia and China have cast vetoes to block
those resolutions.
"I'm embarrassed to be repeating the same thing: Syria
is being destroyed," Lakhdar Brahimi, the joint U.N.-Arab
League envoy to Syria, said after closed-door consultations with the Security Council.
Brahimi blamed both Syrian President Bashar Assad's
government and the Western-backed opposition forces.
"Objectively, they are cooperating to destroy Syria. Syria
is being destroyed bit by bit. And in destroying Syria, the
region is being pushed into a situation that is extremely
bad, and extremely important for the entire world,"
Brahimi said.
He said that is why the Security Council has a duty to
overcome its divisions.

O I L

S P I L L

Brahimi suggested that the Security Council revisit the
Geneva Communique of June 2012, a broad but ambiguous proposal endorsed by the Western powers and
Russia to provide a basis for negotiations.
Assad's role in any transition government was a red line
during the negotiations of the Geneva Communique, and
was left vague. The United States and Russia continue
to disagree on Assad's role, though both signed off on
the communique.
Brahimi says the Security Council should now look
toward the provisions of the Geneva Communique as a
solution.
"A very critical element is the creation of this governing
body, which is really a transition government, with full
executive powers," Brahimi said.
"I think there was a very clever creative ambiguity in this
creation, but I told them that ambiguity has to be lifted
now. Now you have to say what those full executive powers would be. All the powers of state have got to go to
that government," he told reporters outside the council.
Without a council push on the Assad government and
opposition, the Geneva Communique and his mediation

Former BP engineer Kurt Mix was charged with
deleting text messages about the company's spill
response.

www.veteransvoice.org

"I'm trying to use some of my powers of conviction, with
very little success up till now," he said.
"You may have seen that the two parties are maybe a little more embarrassed to say that `We're going to achieve
victory next week.' And both sides have started to say, `If
there is a political solution, perhaps we are willing to listen, provided that political solution will give us 100 percent of what we want.

The fast-food chain on Monday announced it was
pulling the commercial after receiving complaints that it
discouraged people from eating vegetables.

Transocean agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor
charge of violating the Clean Water Act and pay $1.4 billion in civil and criminal penalties. U.S. District Judge Jane
Triche Milazzo has scheduled a Feb. 14 hearing to decide
whether to accept that criminal settlement. A different
judge will decide whether to accept Transocean's civil settlement.

David Rainey, BP's former vice president of exploration for the Gulf of Mexico, was charged with withholding information from Congress about the amount of oil that
was gushing from the well.

His pessimism extended to his assessment of the current
state of negotiations:

It's been kind of a tough month for vegetables. A controversy erupted when Taco Bell started airing a TV ad for
its variety 12-pack of tacos, with a voiceover saying that
bringing a vegetable tray to a football party is "like punting on fourth-and-1." It said that people secretly hate
guests who bring vegetables to parties.

The Justice Department has reached a separate settlement with rig owner Transocean Ltd. that resolves the
government's civil and criminal claims over the Swissbased company's role in the disaster.

In other criminal cases, four current or former BP
employees have been indicted. BP rig supervisors Robert
Kaluza and Donald Vidrine are charged with manslaughter, accused of repeatedly disregarding abnormal highpressure readings that should have been glaring indications of trouble just before the blowout.

"So if I'm doing it, it is because, maybe stupidly, I feel a
sense of duty," Brahimi said.

About 1 in 5 illnesses were linked to leafy green vegetables - more than any other type of food. And nearly
half of all food poisonings were attributed to produce in
general, when illnesses from other fruits and vegetables
were added in.

ment imposes "severe corporate punishment" and will
deter BP and other deep-water drilling companies from
allowing another disaster to occur.

"Am I going to resign? I am not a quitter," Brahimi said.
"The United Nations has no choice but to remain
engaged with this problem, whether I am there or not.
The moment I feel I am totally useless, I will not stay one
minute more.

LEAFY GREENS TOP FOOD
P O I S O N I N G S O U R C E

Continued from page 1

Many relatives of rig workers who died in the blast
submitted written statements that were critical of BP's
deal. Vance, however, said she couldn't get involved in
plea negotiations and only could impose a sentence that
adheres to the agreed-upon terms if she accepted it.

"cannot be implemented as it is."
Brahimi addressed widespread rumors that he was about
to quit, as his predecessor, former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan, did last year when he ran into a similar
impasse.

Without actually saying so, the CDC report suggests
that the Food and Drug Administration should devote
more staff time and other resources to inspection of
fruits and vegetables, said Michael Doyle, director of
the University of Georgia's Center for Food Safety.

NEW YORK (AP) -- A big government study has fingered leafy greens like lettuce and spinach as the leading source of food poisoning, a perhaps uncomfortable
conclusion for health officials who want us to eat our
vegetables.
"Most meals are safe," said Dr. Patricia Griffin, a government researcher and one of the study's authors who
said the finding shouldn't discourage people from eating
produce. Experts repeated often-heard advice: Be sure
to wash those foods or cook them thoroughly.
While more people may have gotten sick from plants,
more died from contaminated poultry, the study also
found. The results were released Tuesday by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans - or 48 million people- gets sick from food poisoning. That includes
128,000 hospitalization and 3,000 deaths, according to
previous CDC estimates.
The new report is the most comprehensive CDC has
produced on the sources of food poisoning, covering
the years 1998 through 2008. It reflects the agency's
growing sophistication at monitoring illnesses and finding their source.
What jumped out at the researchers was the role fruits
and vegetables played in food poisonings, said Griffin,
who heads the CDC office that handles foodborne
infection surveillance and analysis.

Earlier this month, the FDA released a proposed new
rule for produce safety that would set new hygiene
standards for farm workers and for trying to reduce contact with animal waste and dirty water.
Meanwhile, CDC officials emphasized that their report
should not be seen as discouraging people from eating
vegetables.
Many of the vegetable-related illnesses come from
norovirus, which is often spread by cooks and food handlers. So contamination sometimes has more to do with
the kitchen or restaurant it came from then the food
itself, Griffin noted.
Also, while vegetable-related illnesses were more common, they were not the most dangerous. The largest
proportion of foodborne illness deaths - about 1 in 5 were due to poultry. That was partly because three big
outbreaks more than 10 years ago linked to turkey deli
meat.
But it was close. CDC estimated 277 poultry-related
deaths in 1998-2008, compared to 236 vegetable-related deaths.
Fruits and nuts were credited with 96 additional deaths,
making 334 total deaths for produce of all types. The
CDC estimated 417 deaths from all kinds of meat and
poultry, another 140 from dairy and 71 from eggs.
Red meat was once seen as one of the leading sources
of food poisoning, partly because of a deadly outbreak
of E. coli associated with hamburger. But Griffin and
Doyle said there have been significant safety improvements in beef handling. In the study, beef was the
source of fewer than 4 percent of food-related deaths
and fewer than 7 percent of illnesses.

E G Y P T A R M Y C H I E F WA R N S
S TAT E C O U L D C O L L A P S E
PORT SAID, Egypt (AP) -- Residents of this
Mediterranean coastal city burying their dead from
Egypt's wave of political violence vented their fury at
Egypt's Islamist president and the Muslim Brotherhood
on Tuesday, demanding his ouster and virtually declaring
a revolt against his rule, as the head of the military
warned Egypt may collapse under the weight of its turmoil.

"My children told me not to vote for him," she said. "I
thought he was a faithful man who knows God. But he
turned out to be not faithful and he doesn't know God. I
made a big mistake."
The city now feels under siege. Shops are closed.
Fearing the violence, trucks have stopped bringing in
produce. Drivers refused to bring in oxygen supplies for
a private hospital after their truck came under fire by
unknown assailants, a worker at the hospital said. The
city is awash with weapons and known criminals are
seen on motorcycles brandishing automatic weapons.

Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi' strongly worded comments,
his first since the crisis began, appeared aimed at pushing both sides in Egypt's political divide to reconcile and
find a solution to the rapidly spreading protests and riots
across much of the country the past six days.
But his breaking of his silence falls heaviest on President
Mohammed Morsi, who has been unable to contain the
unrest by trying a tough hand, as protesters defied his
declaration of a month-long state of emergency and curfew in Port Said and two neighboring cities.
At least 60 people have been killed and hundreds injured
since Thursday in clashes between police and protesters
angry over what they call Islamists' moves to monopolize
power and failure to address the country's multiple woes.
In his comments, el-Sissi signaled the military would not
move to put down protesters, saying troops are in a
"grave predicament," forced to balance between "avoiding confrontation" with citizens and protecting state institutions.
In Cairo on Tuesday, rock-throwing protesters clashed
with police firing tear gas for another day in battles that
escalated after nightfall near Tahrir Square. The mayhem
forced the nearby U.S. Embassy to suspend public services Tuesday, and the night before masked men tried to
rob the neighboring five-star Semiramis Hotel, a Cairo
landmark, trashing the lobby before being forced out.
Protesters in many cities around the country have battled
police, cut off roads and railway lines and besieged government offices and police stations. But the most dramatic fraying of state control has been in the three cities
along the Suez Canal, particularly Port Said, at the
canal's Mediterranean end.
Violence exploded in Port Said on Saturday, leaving
more than 40 dead since. The provincial governor has
gone into hiding. Police are hunkered down. Tanks are in
the streets by government buildings, but army troops
have balked at enforcing Morsi's curfew order. Residents
in all three cities flouted the restrictions with huge marches in the streets Monday and Tuesday night.
"The independent state of Port Said," proclaimed one
protester's sign as thousands marched through the city
Tuesday in funeral processions for two of those killed in
the unrest.
"Down, down with the rule of the Guide," mourners
chanted, referring to the Brotherhood's top leader, known
as the general guide, who opponents see as the real
power behind Morsi's government.
Mourners carried images of young men shot to death by
police and accused Morsi of ordering the security forces
to open fire. Many said the Islamist president should be
put on trial like ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, who was
sentenced to life in prison in connection with the deaths
of hundreds of protesters during the 2011 uprising
against his rule, though he has been granted a retrial on
appeal.
"God wreak vengeance on Morsi, who gave the orders to
shoot at the protesters of Port Said, the city that fought
three countries," said Ayman Mohammed Abdel-Fatah,
holding a picture of a slain 22-year-old relative who he

Egyptian protesters clash with riot police near Tahrir
Square, Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Intense
fighting for days around central Tahrir Square engulfed
two landmark hotels and forced the U.S. Embassy to suspend public services.
said was shot four times by police during protests outside Port Said's prison.
"As long as the president's hands are stained in blood,
he must leave," said Mohammed el-Assfouri, a lawyer,
standing outside the Mariam mosque where mourners
prayed for the dead.
Egypt's unrest began Thursday and accelerated the following day when clashes erupted nationwide amid
protests by the opposition marking the two-year anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Mubarak.
Port Said's violence was touched off Saturday when a
court issued death sentences against 21 people - mostly
local soccer fans - over a bloody soccer riot in the city a
year ago. Youths infuriated by the verdicts marched in
the streets and clashed with police at a police station
and the prison.
The verdicts were seen by residents as unfairly targeting
Port Said. They also tapped into a vein of resentment in
a city of 600,000 that prides itself as a national symbol of
resistance after being on the front lines of multiple wars
with Israel since 1956.
Many are convinced Morsi and the Brotherhood are trying to sideline the city because of a tradition of defying
authority. They were further outraged when Morsi went
on TV Sunday night and declared the state of emergency
and curfew in Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya. Wagging his
finger and shouting, Morsi supported the actions of
police in confronting the protesters and warned of
stronger measures if calm is not restored.
Mourners on Tuesday spoke of police on rooftops and
roving in armored vehicles firing wildly during the weekend mayhem around the police station and prison in the
city's al-Arab district, hitting bystanders blocks away. On
Sunday, a funeral of some of those killed came under fire
- residents blame police - causing panic as mourners
dropped some of the bodies they were carrying on the
ground.
Ayman el-Sherbini said his 23-year-old brother Osama
was walking in the al-Arab district on the way to buy food
when a bullet hit him in the face, killing him. El-Sherbini,
who wore the beard of a conservative Muslim, blamed
Morsi and said his Islamist leadership had brought
shame on religious people. "Now people spit in the face
of anyone with a beard because of Morsi," he said.
Women in face veils screamed anti-Morsi slogans in the
funeral march. One woman, Faten el-Tahan, a government worker in a conservative Muslim headscarf, said
she wished her "hands were cut off" the day she voted
for Morsi in last year's presidential election.

Seaside hotels are totally empty during a mid-year
school holiday when normally they are full of Egyptian
tourists. Soot, shattered glass and burnt furniture are
scattered outside police and army clubs which are located in front of the cemetery where slain protesters were
buried and which were attacked by protesters.
Tuesday evening, Morsi's office issued a statement saying the curfew and state of emergency could be lifted or
shortened if the security situation improves, apparently
trying to ease the anger.
Throughout the crisis, presidential officials and the
Brotherhood have depicted the unrest as caused by
thugs and supporters of Mubarak's regime - and they
have suggested that the political opposition is using the
turmoil to overturn the results of elections that Islamists
have repeatedly won the past year, bringing them to
power.
The opposition contends the crisis is caused by
Brotherhood attempts to monopolize power and can only
be resolved if it makes major concessions to loosen its
grip, including forming a national unity government and
rewriting contentious parts of the Islamist-backed constitution.
The Brotherhood has dismissed those demands, and
Morsi has instead invited the opposition to join a broad
dialogue conference. The opposition has refused it as
mere window dressing.
The army chief's comments suggested the military's
impatience with politicians' power struggles.
"The continuation of the conflict between the different
political forces and their differences over how the country
should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and
threaten future generations," el-Sissi said, speaking to
military cadets in comments posted on the armed forces'
Facebook page.
He also spoke of a "realistic threat" facing the nation
from its mounting political, economic and social problems.
El-Sissi was appointed by Morsi as military chief and
defense minister last autumn when the president side-

G

O

R

E

Continued from page 1
Florida.
So the book shouldn't be seen as a "manifesto" for a
future political campaign, he writes in the book.
But he's not shy about making a series of policy recommendations.
"We should have more progressive taxation, we should
have higher inheritance taxes. I've always believed that,"
Gore said. "I advocated that during my political career and I
continue to advocate it."
"We need to restore our democracy, we need to reform
markets so they operate the way they're supposed to," he
said. "And the U.S. leadership of the world needs to be
restored."

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Healthcare Providers:
If you are a healthcare provider located in the United States, contact us by
calling 1-877-30-DR-USA
(1-877-303-7872).

The Pena Nieto government also said that it will
only talk about violence in terms of "hard data."

Only the government's talk about them has
dropped.
Eighteen members of a band and its retinue were
kidnapped and apparently slain over the weekend
in the northern border state of Nuevo Leon by gunmen who asked them to name their cartel affiliation
before they were shot and dumped in a well.
Fourteen prisoners and nine guards died in an
attempted prison escape in Durango state. Nine
men were slain Christmas eve in Sinaloa. In the
state of Mexico, which borders the capital, more
than a dozen bodies were found last week, some
dismembered.
The difference under this administration is that
there have been no major press conferences
announcing more troops or federal police for drugplagued hotspots. Gone are the regular parades of
newly arrested drug suspects before the media
with their weapons, cash or contraband.
Pena Nieto has been mum, instead touting education, fiscal and energy reforms. On Monday, he
told a summit of Latin American and Caribbean
leaders in Chile that he wants Mexico to focus on
being a player in solving world and regional problems.
Some political observers praise him for trying to
change the conversation and presenting an alternative face of Mexico. Critics suggest the country's
new leaders believe that the best way to solve a
security crisis is to create distractions.
"What Pena Nieto is doing is ... sweeping violence
under the rug in hopes that no one notices," said
security expert Jorge Chabat. "It can be effective
in the short term, until the violence becomes so
obvious that you can't change the subject."
The Pena Nieto government declined to respond
publicly to the critics. But in an interview last
month with The Associated Press, he said he
would not put any goals or deadlines on his campaign against organized crime and would focus on
prevention.
"That way we avoid generating fertile ground
where violence and insecurity can keep growing,"
Pena Nieto said.
Secretary of Interior Jose Osorio Chong had a
closed-door meeting with the governors of
Mexico's central states about security on Monday.
In a press conference afterward, he promised to
increase patrols along a highway system already
bristling with military and police roadblocks and
checkpoints.
The apparent weekend killing of 18 members of
Kombo Kolombia, which had played at a private
performance late Thursday, was the largest mass
kidnapping and killing since 20 tourists disappeared and were later found dead in 2011 near the
resort city of Acapulco. Searchers this week were
pulling bodies from a well in northern Mexico that
they said likely belonged to the band.
An area known as the Laguna, where Coahuila
and Durango states meet, has been the scene of

Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto laughs as he meets with
members of the Economic Commission for Latin America and
the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile, Friday, Jan. 25, 2012. Leaders
from the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean are
gathering in Santiago for the CELAC-EU economic summit

numerous battles between factions of the Sinaloa
and the Zetas cartels.
The State of Mexico has had 70 slayings so far
this year, according to Gov. Eruviel Avila. La
Familia has moved in from the neighboring state of
Michoacan and is fighting for territory with a smaller gang known as the United Warriors. Meanwhile,
masked vigilantes patrol towns in the southern
state of Guerrero on the Pacific coast, where citizens have grown tired of organized crime usurping
local authority.
Communications expert Ruben Aguilar said the
Pena Nieto government is right to change the
focus from security, which had been the main topic
throughout the six-year administration of President
Felipe Calderon, who left office on Dec. 1.
"On the subject of security, President Calderon
went against all logic and turned it into the country's only issue," said Aguilar, who was spokesman
for previous President Vicente Fox. "The theme
itself is addictive for the media, and generates a
negative social mood."
It's difficult to say if drug violence has risen
because the government no longer provides numbers, something that started under Calderon, who
last released drug-war death statistics in
September 2011.
The newspaper Reforma, one of several media
outlets that count murders linked to organized
crime, said that in December, the first month of the
new government, there were 755 drug-related
killings, compared to 699 in November. In
Calderon's six-year term, some 70,000 people lost
their lives to drug violence, the newspaper reported, with at least 20,000 believed missing.
Pena Nieto's election marked the return to power
of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,
which ran Mexico for 71 years. Under Calderon,
violence exploded and cartels splintered. Many
Mexicans believed drug violence would start to
wane with the return of the PRI, assuming it would
negotiate to keep the peace - something party
leaders have consistently denied.
Upon taking office Dec. 1, Pena Nieto announced
that he would work to restore peace, saying the
government would change its security strategy to
reducing murders, kidnappings and extortion more
than going after cartel leaders . He released a
security plan that was not clearly different from
Calderon's. Among the few specifics was a plan to
establish a gendarmerie to patrol dangerous

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Eduardo Sรกnchez, the undersecretary for media in
the Interior Ministry, told Mexico's official news
agency last week that the federal government will
no longer present detainees to the media or mention prisoners' aliases - be it "the Squirrel" or "El
Brad Pitt" - a highly criticized practice under
Calderon.
The idea, Sanchez said, is to avoid glorifying violence, which is already celebrated in some circles
through music and clothing styles.
"We don't want the youth in this country to feel like
crime is attractive or a good place in increase your
social economic status," Sanchez told local
reporters last week.
He said the government has arrested 854 people
for drug-related crimes its first month in office, and
said 69 criminals were killed in confrontations with
the armed forces. But he would not say to which
organized crime groups they belonged or the circumstances of their deaths or capture.
Carlos Reyes, spokesman for the congressional
delegation of the opposition Democratic Revolution
Party, was critical of the new approach.
"The actions of the government need to be transparent in terms of being precise about the level of
the problem and how you're going to address it,
not evade or disguise it," he said.
Edna Jaime, director of the policy analysis firm
Mexico Evaluates, it's too early to criticize the new
government's approach.
"The dynamic of violence is not going to change in
a month or a month and half," she said, though
she added that the government should have a
strategy by now. The narrative will change "when
it's accompanied by real change," she added.

8

Legal Street News Monday, January 28, 2013

J A P A N
L A U N C H E S
2
I N T E L L I G E N C E S A T E L L I T E S
Commission declared last week that the country would
carry out a nuclear test and launch more rockets in defiance of the U.N. Security Council's announcement that it
would punish Pyongyang for its long-range rocket test in
December with more sanctions, calling it a violation of a
ban on nuclear and missile activity.

OKYO (AP) -- Japan launched two intelligence satellites into orbit on Sunday amid growing concerns that
North Korea is planning to test more rockets of its own
and possibly conduct a nuclear test.
Officials say the launch Sunday of the domestically
produced HII-A rocket went smoothly and the satellites an operational radar satellite and an experimental optical
probe - appear to have reached orbit.
Japan began its intelligence satellite program after
North Korea fired a long-range missile over Japan's main
island in 1998. North Korea conducted a launch last
month that it says carried a satellite into orbit but has been
condemned by the U.S. and others as a cover for its development of missile technology.

North Korea's state news agency said on Sunday that
leader Kim Jong Un vowed at a meeting of top security
and foreign officials to take "substantial and high-profile
important state measures."

intelligence.

The latest Japanese launch was in the planning stages
long before the current increase in tensions with North
Korea, but underscores Japan's longstanding wariness of
its isolated neighbor's abilities and intentions.

Its optical satellites are believed to be about as good
as commercial satellites, meaning they are able to detect
objects of about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in size from
their orbits. With the additional radar satellite, Japan
hopes to be able to glean intelligence on any specified
location once a day.

The radar satellite, which can provide intelligence
through cloud cover and at night, is intended to augment
a network of several probes that Japan already has in
orbit. The optical probe will be used to test future technology and improvements that would allow Japan to
strengthen its surveillance capabilities.

Japan, which hosts about 50,000 U.S. troops, is especially concerned about North Korea because its main
islands are already within range of the North's missiles.
Along with developing its own network of spy satellites,
Japan has cooperated with Washington in establishing an
elaborate missile defense shield.

Japan still relies on the United States for much of its

North

Korea's

powerful

National

Defense

TWO SCIENTIST WIN NOBEL
PRIzE FOR RESEARCH
BRUSSELS (AP) -- Two European science projects
- one to map the intricacies of the human brain, the
other to explore the extraordinary carbon-based
material graphene - won an EU technology contest
Monday, getting up to (EURO)1 billion ($1.34 billion)
each over the next decade.

The Human Brain Project will use supercomputers
1,000 times more powerful than those today to create the most detailed model ever of the human
brain. Then the project plans to simulate the effects
of drugs and treatments on the brain, for a better
understanding of neurological diseases and related
ailments.
In addition, the increased knowledge about how the
brain works - and how it manages billions of processing units and trillions of synapses while consuming no more power than a light bulb -may lead
to "a paradigm shift for computing," the European
Commission, the European Union's executive
branch, said in a statement.
"The economic and industrial impact of such a shift
is potentially enormous," the commission said.
The leader of the project, Henry Markram, a professor of neuroscience at the Ecole Polytechnique
Federale of Lausanne in Switzerland, said earlier
this month that it could not be undertaken without
this kind of funding.
"The pharmaceutical industry won't do this, computing companies won't do this - there's too much fundamental science," Markram said. "This is one project which absolutely needs public funding."
The other project will investigate the possible uses
of graphene, the thinnest known material, which
conducts electricity far better than copper, is perhaps 300 times stronger than steel and has unique
optical properties. A sheet of it is one atom thick;
scientists call it the first known two-dimensional
material.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Heat rising up from cities such
as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely
warming up winters far away in some rural parts of
Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes.
In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in
much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe
and the Mediterranean, according to the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Climate
Change.
Meteorologists long have known that cities are warmer
than rural areas, with the heat of buildings and cars,
along with asphalt and roofs that absorb heat. That's
called the urban heat island effect and it's long been
thought that the heat stayed close to the cities.
But the study, based on a computer model and the
Northern Hemisphere, now suggests the heat does
something else, albeit indirectly. It travels about half a
mile up into the air and then its energy changes the
high-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictate
prevailing weather.

The projects were selected from 26 proposals.
"European's position as a knowledge superpower
depends on thinking the unthinkable and exploiting
the best ideas," European Commission Vice
President Neelie Kroes said in a statement. "This
multi-billion competition rewards home-grown scientific breakthroughs and shows that when we are
ambitious we can develop the best research in
Europe."

D I S T A N T
RURAL AREAS
M A Y F E E L
C I T I E S ' H E AT

Two European science projects - one to map the intricacies of
the human brain, the other to explore the extraordinary carbonbased material graphene â&#x20AC;&#x201D; won an EU technology contest
Monday, Jan. 28, 2013, getting up to euro1 billion ($1.34 billion)
each over the next decade. The projects were selected from 26

Important future uses include the development of fast,
flexible and strong consumer electronics, bendable
personal communication devises, lighter airplanes,
cars that use less energy and artificial retinas.
The project will be led by professor Jari Kinaret of the
Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg,
Sweden.
"The story of graphene shows there is still wonder in
science," Kroes said Monday at a news conference.
"It's like a miracle."
In 2010, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to
two scientists at the University of Manchester in
Britain "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the
two-dimensional material graphene."
"So, you've heard of Silicon Valley," Kroes said.
"`Where in Europe wants to be known as `Graphene
Valley?' That's the billion-euro question I am putting to
you today."
Each of the projects will initially receive (EURO)54
million ($73 million) from the European Union's
research budget, an amount that will be matched by
national governments and other sources. Further
funding will depend on whether they reach certain
milestones within the first 30 months, but over a
decade it could total (EURO)1 billion ($1.34 million)
each.
In this age of government austerity, the commission
promised to monitor the projects carefully so they
continue "to be an efficient use of taxpayers' money."
The winners were selected by a panel of 25 experts,
including professors, scientists and Nobel winners.

"Basically, it changes the flow." said Guang Zhang of
the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla,
Calif. He wrote the paper with Aixue Hu at the National
Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
This doesn't change overall global temperature averages significantly, unlike man-made greenhouse gases
that cause global warming. Instead it redistributes
some of the heat, the scientists said.
The changes seem to vary with the seasons and by
region because of the way air currents flow at different
times of the year. During the winter, the jet stream is
altered and weakened, keeping cold air closer to the
Arctic Circle and from dipping down as sharply, Hu
explained.
The computer model showed that parts of Siberia and
northwestern Canada may get, on average, an extra
1.4 degrees to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 to 1 degree
Celsius) during the winter, which "may not be a bad
thing," Zhang said. The effect isn't quite as much in
northern North Dakota and Minnesota, where temperatures might be about half a degree warmer (0.3
degrees Celsius), and even less along the East Coast.
In contrast, Europe and the Pacific Northwest are
cooled slightly in the winter from this effect. The jet
stream changes prevent weather systems from bringing warmer air from the Atlantic to Europe and from the
Pacific to the U.S. Northwest, thus cooling those areas
a bit, he said.
The biggest cooling occurs in the fall, but Hu said he's
not quite sure why that happens.
Several outside scientists said they were surprised by
the study results, calling the work "intriguing" and
"clever." But they said it would have to be shown in
more than one computer model and in repeated experiments before they could accept this theory.
"It's an interesting and rationally carried out study," said
David Parker, climate monitoring chief of the United
Kingdom meteorology office. "We must be cautious
until other models are used to test their hypothesis."